Gavin Thomas, an 8-year-old American boy, is an online star in China. Chinese fans know him as "fake(假的) smile boy".

    Gavin first came to people's attention when he was only two years old. His uncle, Nick Mastodon, posted a few shot videos of him on Vine, a popular video-sharing site in the US. In one of the videos, Nick put a gecko(壁虎) on Gavin's head. His nervous yet funny reaction soon won him a lot of fans online.

    Gavin is in primary school right now. "We take a lot of photos. My uncle Nick and I make videos together. My family thinks it is really cool for me to have many fans online and my friends in class know that I make videos and take photos," Gavin said.

    On July 12, 2018, Gavin opened an account (账户) on Sina Weibo. In less than four hours, he got more than 400 thousand followers. One day later, it reached 1 million. 4 months later, the number doubled again.

    "I saw Gavin's smiling photo about one year ago when one of my friends sent it to me. My friend was working on the weekends and used the photo to complain about his boss," said Tian Qian, a primary school teacher in Beijing. Gavin's smile expressed her friend's feeling at that moment.

    "We live in a fast-paced (快节奏的) city and are under a lot of pressure. Gavin's smile makes us feel relaxed," Tian said. I have been following him on Weibo and it's very enjoyable to watch his videos. We are happy that he is bringing joy to our lives."